Rumbelle FanFic: Cold Water
by Pandicakes
Summary: A short one-off involving magic, pranks and utter silliness.


It had been quite a few months since the deal she made with the Dark One and Belle had grown accustomed to her daily chores of cleaning, dusting and tidying her new home. The castle was large and had been more or less neglected since the Dark One had moved in all those centuries ago.

Despite her coming from a posh background and having to learn how to do certain things on the fly, Belle found herself almost enjoying her daily routine. She would get up before sunrise and prepare breakfast for her master, then spend a couple of hours cleaning before lunch. There wasn't much point in making lunch for her master because he always rejected it, but she would prepare it regardless because he was far too thin.

Once his lunchtime rejection was thrown at her, she would tidy up and do laundry before making the afternoon tea. She found that the Dark One enjoyed this time of day - he was always at his most energetic once he had a nice cup of tea in his hands.

When it came to tea, Belle knew not to mess around. The first day at the castle, Belle has chipped one of his cups and thought she was done for. To her surprise though, he was rather calm about the whole ordeal and let it pass. "It's just a cup" he had said. At the time Belle didn't think much of it, however Belle had neglected to bring that specific cup to him the following day and he had panicked, thinking she threw it out. She never made that mistake again. It obviously wasn't 'just a cup.'

Their working relationship got off to a very rough start, with arguments and debates happening everyday. Belle is a hard-headed and stubborn young woman and her master is the rude and temper-ridden Dark One. There was bound to be a few bumps and rough patches along the way.

After a particularly rough fight (because of some frogs she had let loose), Belle made the decision to stay out of his business in which her master repaid the favour by doing the same.

Today however, he didn't. Belle was on the landing, cleaning the stairwell bannister that overlooked the grand entrance of the Dark Castle. She was humming a little tune as she rubbed the damp cloth on the carved oak poles. As she worked, her scarf dipped into the bucket of soapy water and as she went to move, it splashed over her dress.

"A bit wet, dearie?" His voice came as a high-pitched squeal. She jumped and turned to face him. He was perched upon the end of the bannister.

Belle should have been used to him popping out of nowhere seeing as he did it so often that a heart attack will most likely be her cause of death. "So it would seem." She flipped the scarf around her neck and let the water droplets fling outwards. One of them landed on the Dark One's cheek. He lifted thin fingers to his face and wiped the droplet away in a swift and elegant manner. A giggle escaped his servant's lips.

He kept his eyes on her as he slid off the bannister and meandered toward her, invading her personal space. Her breath had hitched in her throat at their sudden proximity.

Belle couldn't have helped it, she hadn't meant to laugh outwardly and when the sound left her lips, she knew she was in trouble. Not the "angry rage" kind of trouble that she was in when she disobeyed him or does something reckless. This was a "giddy mischievous" kind of trouble where his eyes lit up like burning stars and his grin reminded her of a strange evaporating cat she had read about in one of her fantasy novels.

Belle had seen this look on him far too many times to know where this was headed. Whatever he was thinking of doing, there would be no use her trying to stop him because he was far too powerful a being for a measly little servant girl - no fleeing or protesting would save her now.

She closed her eyes to escape his intense gaze and this gave her master the opportunity he needed to pick up the bucket of soapy water and dunk it over her head, soaking her to the bone.

Gasping for air, Belle spluttered and shivered as the water ran down her face, through her clothes and onto the floor around her. "Rumpelstiltskin!" She cried out his name in a semi-serious aspirated tone. It wasn't until she wiped her eyes open to see his grin morph into a straight line that she had realised what she'd done.

Her hand immediately went to cover her mouth, as if she were attempting to reverse the word that her lips had spurted out. He had never told her his name.

When Belle had previously asked about it, he told her that there was power in names and he wouldn't offer it to her without something in return. She had refused to give him that 'something' of course, whatever it may have been, because his name didn't seem all that important at the time. He was her Master, simple as that.

One day though, she had opened a storage cupboard and a whole load of parchments had come tumbling out. Her curiosity got the best of her (as it usually did) and she unrolled one of them, reminiscence of past deals he had done, when she spotted his curly handwritten signature.

Unusual but unique - it fitted him, she thought. At first, the name was strange to her. But as she grew to know the man she was living with, Belle found herself rather fond of the name. She'd usually think of it when her mind drifted off to thoughts of him, but she never dared to utter it out loud. He would be enraged to know she had been snooping in his paper work.

The water carried on dripping down from her dress and onto the floor. Though now the puddle had found its way to the staircase and was slowly but surely making it's way downwards – what a mess. At least, Belle would have thought it a mess if she could think of anything other than the fact that her master was starring at her with a professional poker face.

He had lifted himself away form her personal space when she had spoken his name and had remained there since, completely unmoving. She was frozen in fear as to what his reaction would be, what her punishment would be for her finding out such private information. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Took you long enough, dearie!" His typical impish persona was back and he flung his arms about like a hyperactive child. "I thought you'd never find out." His tone had a hint of 'impressed' in it with a small dash of pride despite being mostly overly cheerful and patronizing, like usual.

Belle sighed in relief. He had known she would find out. Belle found him impressive in that way, if not a bit annoying by always playing these kinds of mind games on her.

"Tell me," he continued. "How did you come across my name?" He was walking about the landing now, a spring in his step.

"Never mind that, I'm soaked!" She motioned to her dress. Her teeth were chattering in her mouth and goose bumps had emerged all over her body.

"Well observed, dearie." His was clearly enjoying himself far too much.

An idea came to Belle and she grinned to herself. This made Rumpelstiltskin slow his pacing down as he watched her with curiosity, wondering what she was so happy about. Once he had stopped pacing completely, Belle lunged herself at him attempting to soak him with her drenched body.

Mid-air, she was engulfed in freezing water. Panicked, she swam upwards and towards the light at the surface of the water. The cold, chilling breeze hit her like a bag of bricks, closing up her throat, causing her to gasp intensely for air. As the oxygen filled her lungs, realisation kicked in. He had sent her to the lake found on the outskirts of the castle grounds.

Immediately, she swam towards the closest shoreline. A figure was standing there, it didn't take a genius to know that it was the Dark One, mocking and laughing her the whole way there.

As she got close enough to the shore to comfortably stand up, she stilled. "That was not fair." She folded her arms in frustration, refusing to walk another step towards him, even if the water was biting at her flesh and the cold breeze was chilling her to the bone.

He shrugged nonchalantly, "All's fair in love and war."

His statement was said so matter-of-factly that it took a moment for Belle to realise what he had said. It took the Dark One even longer. His eyes opened in disbelief and his hands curled into fists at his side, his body as still as a statue.

Belle was trying to think of something else to say but her mind was buzzing at those words and what he had possibly meant by them. She opted for a simpler solution and began walking towards the shore. Walking towards him.


End file.
